A Great Vacation!

We arrived home this weekend very tired after a busy trip. Hopefully, my above link to You Tube will lead you to some of our pictures. If it doesn't work, let me know and I will swap it out with Fliker or another program. A quick recap of the trip:

Day 1: In our rental car, we headed north from Las Vegas to Pipe Springs National Monument; an interesting stop with some Mormon history. We then got back in the car and drove to the Grand Canyon North Rim. The drive is very different from the south rim - the Kaibab Plateau is a higher elevation and is forested; we didn't except to see so many aspen trees. The north rim itself is less crowded than the south; we were able to meet another blogger Gaelyn who is a ranger at this location - a special treat! We stayed in a pioneer cabin that was just about perfect...just a few steps from the Transcept trail. We also had made reservations to eat in the lodge dining room which has a spectacular view of the canyon (a very memorable meal).

Something very unique happened on this day - the annular solar ecclipse; the next one will not happen in the US until 2023. The NPS had viewing stations set up, and was rotating around special viewing glasses so you could look right at the sun. This was a very unique time to be at the canyon!

Day 2: Awaking feeling poorly, the hike accross the canyon didn't seem that it was going to be possible. My stomach didn't want to take anything in. But, we had come all this way we decided to try. We started out on the North Kaibab trail and headed down. After a couple miles and 1400 feet, we hit the Supai tunnel; we stopped to try to eat and drink. I was feeling better, but not great. At this point, the sun was coming up ahead and the 104 degree heat was on its way. It was a very difficult decision, but it just wasn't meant to be...we headed back up. I suspected if we went forward, I might have been one of the 250+ people that had to be rescued each year - and I didn't want to be one of those people! We sadly returned our permit to the backcountry office where the ranger assured us that it was the right thing to do. We got back in the car and headed towards Kanab - we visited the largest no-kill animal shelter in the US (Best Friends), and also visted the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park.

Day 3: We choose to head to Kanab because we would have another shot at The Wave permit; the lottery is held every morning at 9:00 for the next day hike. There were 114 people/in 53 groups - there were 10 spots available. The first number chosen was a couple from Denver...two spots gone. The second number was chosen - it was us! What luck! We were suppose to be hiking up the Grand Canyon, but instead were here at the lottery...and we won! We then stayed at the office to get instructions, and then headed north to Bryce Canyon for the day. We did a very nice 6.4 mile hike - it was much easier than the day before when I was feeling so poorly.

Day 4: We got up early and headed to the Wire Pass trailhead. We had our GPS unit, and also had the map that the BLM gave us. Off we went. It was different to be hiking in the wilderness where there wasn't a marked trail - but we did fine. The Wave itself is very unique - so perfectly formed sandstone. The area itself is very small, and after seeing it, we were thankful it was just us enjoying it and not the other 100+ persons...it wouldn't have been the same. The hike was fairly easy - mostly level over slick-rock with beautiful formations in all directions; the flowers were amazing.

We always had a back-up plan had we not gotten the wave permit (in fact, I would say that the wave was the backup plan for we really didn't think it would happen). Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch was the next destination. Sharing the same trailhead, we blazed accross the wilderness to pick up the wash trail and headed into the slot canyon. Are you kidding me? What a terrific hike! A must do for anyone in the area. On the way out, the wind had picked up to 50mph gusts...unfortunately, our favorite point-and-shoot camera is now broken...too much sand. It was a hard hike back to the car - we were coated with sand.

Onward to Page! We visited the Glen Canyon dam, Horeshoe Bend, and Rob swam in Lake Powell (too cold and windy for me). We decided not to spend the money on Antelope canyon after our brillant hike earlier in the day.

Day 5: One goal in our life is to visit all of the national parks...and as many national monuments as possible. Rainbow Bridge is off the beated path. From Page, you can board an expensive 2-hour boat trip to get there. While not happy about the cost, we were off. The lake itself was quite beautiful - you might consider a boat rental if you are in the area. The bridge itself is massive - the pictures just don't capture it. Back at the marina, we got back in the car, and drove west to Zion. We stopped at two visitor centers and chatted to the rangers about their jobs (can you hook us up?!). In Springdale (next to Zion), we stopped at the outfitter to get our gear for the following day so we could start early.

Dav 6: We set out to hike "The Narrows"...a river hike. We rented neoprene socks/shoes/sticks...I also got dry pants which I was very happy about. Starting early, the tempereatures were cool; the water never got past our waists. It was an interesting hike for you needed much upper arm strength to navigate the rapids in the river (I only partially fell once!). For us, this was a bottom up and back hike - on the way up, we had mostly solitude. After about 1/3 of the way back, the crowds begun and we were happy to be heading out and home for the holiday weekend had obviously begun. Back in the car...back to Vegas...and out early the folllowing morning.

What a trip!